Tea for Thought
by BeautifulAlice
Summary: Teyla reflects over all the times that she had tea, and why she likes it so. Gen, no spoilers.


_**Tea for Thought **_

**Beautiful Alice**

Summary: Before the sun rises, Teyla drinks tea in the Atlantis cafeteria, reflecting on how many different kinds of teas there are.

Word Count: about 1,000

AN: Written because I like tea too

* * *

Teyla liked tea.

Usually she drank her Athosian tea, and sometimes if she were lucky to have purchased tea from offworld traders, she would drink that as well.

Tea was calming and soothing, and helped give your hands something to do as you sat thinking.

It was something that she had been doing since she was a little girl, drinking tea.

She remembered her first cup of tea clearly, her mother had gotten some and Teyla had asked in a polite tone that she'd learned from her teachers,

"What's that, mommy?"

"This is tea, Teyla-love." She had replied, and from then it was almost the only thing that Teyla would drink.

On Atlantis, she had eventually come to learn that Earth had _hundreds_ of types of teas for her to try.

Elizabeth had been most helpful in assisting her in the types that she might like, providing a book that described teas, what they were made of, and what the items were within the teas. She had read it with interest, and it had explained a fair amount, but some of it was still…puzzling.

Still, the teas that Earth contained were very unique. She knew of many worlds that would like to have some of their teas. The tea she was currently drinking was called Blackberry tea, and it was…very interesting. She was not sure if she liked it or not, but it was something new, and she craved new things.

Craved them more than she did her tea.

As she sat there, stirring sugar into the blackberry to see if it would help, John Sheppard parked in front of her, holding his own cup, and looking more than a bit tired of having to get up at the "crack of dawn" as the Earthers had put it.

Only his cup wasn't tea.

It was coffee.

With a smile, she politely greeted him, and he smiled back and did the same. How Earthers were so addicted to their coffee, she did not know. Perhaps it was the same as being addicted to tea? Elizabeth had said that both coffee and tea had many unique flavors. She was considering this, when Sheppard said casually,

"Penny for your thoughts,"

She smiled, knowing that he was asking what she was thinking about, despite the odd phrase that he used.

"I am thinking of tea," She answered, carefully. Sheppard blinked, obviously not expecting that.

"Tea?" He asked, puzzled. "What about it?"

"I have had tea ever since my mother first introduced it to me. I had tried most of it within the Pegasus galaxy. Tea is a special commodity that one rarely discovers in Pegasus. Earth, however, seems to hold a great many different kinds of tea. It is…" She paused, searching for the word. "A bit frustrating. I had thought that I had tried almost all the kinds of tea available."

"And here we come bringing hundreds more kinds to try," Sheppard filled in, and sounded amused. "Yeah, just one more problem to add to the list?"

"It is not a problem," Teyla insisted, almost immediately. "It is…simply a bit frustrating, yet in a good way. I have found several new kinds to like, and if ever I run out of my own kind of tea, I can easily get some from your people. Dr. Weir has been most gracious in assisting me with this already, even providing me with a book on tea and the many different versions of it." She added.

Sheppard blinked.

"Oh," He said, settling back in his chair and stirring sugar into his coffee. "You know Teyla, you got me thinking that we need a class about Earth's culture for…Pegasus citizens." He said, and she blinked, startled. "You pointed out yourself that you don't even know most of what we talk about or why, and there could be an entire class just based on tea." She smiled at that thought, and he looked concerned. "You and the other Athosians are always so confused, and we don't mind explaining, really we don't." He said earnestly at her concerned look. "It just seems…"

"Easier to have a class?" Teyla finished for him, and he nodded, looking relieved. "Perhaps we should talk to Dr. Weir of it. Maybe we can do a…what did Rodney call it? Oh yes, we can create a college within Atlantis for those that need it."

"Now there's an idea," Sheppard mused, sounding interested. "One of the many, many classes of the college would be a tea class, just for you." He said with a grin.

"And we shall call it 'Tea for Thought'," Teyla teased, and he chuckled and started drinking some of his coffee, after he'd finished fixing it up just the way he liked.

She glanced back down at her own cup of tea, and half-smiled.

Tea for thought, indeed.

* * *

End


End file.
